Reciprocal drive mechanism

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a reciprocating drive mechanism and means for either amplifying or suppressing the output of the mechanism. The mechanism includes a rotating cam adjacent to which is positioned a carriage member having a cam follower mounted thereon. The carriage member acts as a housing for a pair of racks which have interengaging teeth and are preferably mounted perpendicular to each other. The carriage is mounted for translatory movement in response to the action of the cam and cam follower and the racks are forced into relative movement with respect to the carriage by a stationary elongated member. The elongated member has a track on one face thereof, in which is engaged a roller, the roller being mounted on the surface opposite the teeth of one of the racks. When the carriage moves, the follower within the elongated member will force its associated rack to move within the carriage, which movement of the associated rack will cause the other rack to have corresponding movement. The angular orientation of the elongated member controls the amount of movement of the other rack and can be adjusted to cause the effective movement of the other rack to be amplified or suppressed.

United States Patent Matas [s4] RECIPROCAL DRIVE MECHANISM [72] Inventor: Carlos Matas, Valence, France [73] Assignee: Etablissements Pain-Bourgeas,

Valence, France [22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 886,214

[52] US. Cl. ..74/57, 242/43, 242/158, 74/29, 74/110 [51] Int. Cl ..F16h 25/12 [58] Field of Search ..74/29, 422, 57, 110; 242/43, 242/158 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,774,869 9/1930 Brown ..74/110 591,569 10/ 1897 Pierce ..74/422 2,757,884 8/1956 Bryant et al. ..242/158 3,093,344 6/1963 Lamb ..242/158 3,347,475 10/1967 Sternberg ..242/ 158 3,475,973 11/1969 Blazek et a1. ..74/29 2,824,582 2/ 1958 Reitherman ..74/57 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 95,983 2/1925 Germany ..74/110 317,663 8/1929 Great Britain ..242/ 158 59,073 12/1953 France ..74/422 [451 Oct. 10, 1972 Primary Examiner-William F. ODea Assistant Examiner-Wesley S. Ratliff, Jr. Attorney-Sherman and Shalloway 57 ABSTRACT Disclosed herein is a reciprocating drive mechanism and means for either amplifying or suppressing the output of the mechanism. The mechanism includes a rotating cam adjacent to which is positioned a carriage member having a cam follower mounted thereon. The carriage member acts as a housing for a pair of racks which have interengaging teeth and are preferably mounted perpendicular to each other. The carriage is mounted for translatory movement in response to the action of the cam and cam follower and the racks are forced into relative movement with respect to the carriage by a stationary elongated member. The elongated member has a track on one face thereof, in which is engaged a roller, the roller being mounted on the surface opposite the teeth of one of the racks. When the carriage moves, the follower within the elongated member will force its associated rack to move within the carriage, which movement of the associated rack will cause the other rack to have corresponding movement. The angular orientation of the elongated member controls the amount of movement of the other rack and can be adjusted to cause the effective movement of the other rack to be amplified or suppressed.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDum 101912 3,696,682

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saw a or 3 E L a INVENTOR CARLOS MAT AS ATTORNEYS RECIPROCAL DRIVE MECHANISM The present invention relates to a reciprocating drive mechanism. An application of the mechanism is in textile machinery, e.g., a winding frame, but it is to be understood that it can be fitted to machinery for use in other fields as well as textiles.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating drive mechanism including two toothed racks slidably mounted at right angles to each other with the teeth thereof interrneshing, the angle of inclination of the teeth of the racks being such that reciprocating movement of one rack in one direction imparts a reciprocating movement in an orthogonal direction to the other rack.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating drive mechanism including a carriage, first and second'toothed racks slidably mounted'on the carriage at right angles to each other with the teeth thereof interrneshing, the first rack being aligned in the direction of movement of the carriage and the angle of inclination of the teeth of the first and second racks being such'that'movement of the second rack imparts a movement to the first rack, an elongated member mounted for various angles of inclination with respectto the first rack and having a track thereon, and a member attached to the second rack so that the member is engageable with the track, whereby inclination of the elongated member in the same direction as the inclination of the teeth of the first and second racks reduces the relative travel between the carriage and the first rack and inclination of the elongated member in the opposite direction to the inclination of the teeth of the first and second racks increases the relative travel between the carriage and the first rack.

Preferably, the mechanism further comprises means for varying the inclination of the elongated member.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the reciprocal drive mechanism fitted in a winding frame; and

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show alternative modes of use of the mechanism and by which the amplitude of the travel of a bar attached to the device can be determined;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along line 5-5 of -FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a broken perspective of the drive mechanism of FIG. 1 illustrating various positions of the slideway in phantom.

In FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 there is shown a conventional inclined cam l of a textile machine mounted on a drive shaft 2, only a short portion of which is shown. The rim of the cam l is formed with a groove 3 serving as a guide track for a cam follower roller 3'. A carriage 4 carries the cam follower roller and is adapted to slide on two horizontal parallel shafts 5 and 6 of circular cross section. The upper shaft 6 may be the shaft of the drive cylinders of the large bobbins in the case of a twister, such as cylinder 7. Since the machine is doubled-faced, a second carriage 4' is disposed on the second face and is adapted to slide on the shafts S'and 6 and operates in a manner similar to carriage 4. The carriage 4 carries a slide 8 having a channel therein receiving a horizontal rack 9 having inclined teeth, and carriage 4 also carries a slide 10 with a channel therein receiving a vertical rack 11 having corresponding inclined teeth as shown inthe upper portion of the drawing. The inclined teeth of the racks 9, ll intermesh with each other. On the face opposite the meshing side, the rack 11 carries a follower 16 which is positioned midway of the vertical rack at the level of the horizontal rack. The follower 16 is positioned within a longitudinal groove 12 in a fixed elongated member or slideway 13 which may be varied in inclination by means of suitable connectors such as bolts. The horizontal rack 9 is fast with a reciprocating bar 14 carrying yarn guides, one of which is shown at 15, disposed before the cylinder 7 for driving a large bobbin.

The mode of operation of the device is as follows. The cam 1 driving the cam follower roller mounted on the near side of the carriage 4 thus positively actuates the latter to effect reciprocating movement, the constant amplitude of which is equal to the travel of the cam follower roller in the groove 3. The carriage 4 carries, during its displacement movements, the two racks 9 and 11 which intermesh. With the fixed slideway inclined in a similar direction as the inclination of the teeth of the racks, as shown in FIG. 2, and assuming that the carriage 4 is displaced in the direction of the arrow F, the follower 16 is compelled to ascend towards the right in the groove 12 of the fixed slideway l3 and entrains the vertical rack 11 upwardly. Due to this fact and since the inclination of the toothing (FIG. 2) and of the slideway 13 is in the same direction, the horizontal rack 9 is urged towards the left in FIG. 1, Le, in the direction opposite to that of the arrow F. It is clear that the two movements to which the rack 9 is subject are subtracted from and cancel each other. For example, if the toothing of the racks 9, 11 is inclined at 45 to the longitudinal axis of the racks and the fixed slideway 15 is inclined at 45 to the rack 9, the resultant of the two movements is zero and the reciprocating bar 14 remains stationary. The movement of the carriage 4 in the direction opposite to that of the arrow F has the same effect in the other sense.

If the slideway 13 has an inclination which is the inverse of that of the toothing (as shown in FIG. 3), the two movements to which the horizontal rack 9 is subject are added to each other. For example, if the toothing is inclined at 45 in one direction and the slideway 13 is inclined at 45 in the other direction, the two movements imparted to the rack 9 have the same amplitude and the reciprocating travel is doubled relatively to that of the cam. In fact, in the direction of displacement towards the right (arrow F) of the carriage 4, the follower 16 is obliged this time to descend, meanwhile .entraining the rack 11 downwardly and the rack 9 towards the right. To the displacement imparted to the rack 9 by the carriage 4, there is added that of equal value, in the example, produced by the rack 11.

Finally, if the slideway 13 is horizontal, as in the diagram shown in FIG. 4, the reciprocation of the carriage 4 will have no effect on the vertical rack 11 which will also not displace the horizontal rack 9 and, in this case, the travel amplitude is simply that of the carriage.

It should be noted that, in the preceding examples, mention has been made of a 45 inclination of the fixed slideway 13. In practice, due to sliding reactions in respect of the follower 16 in the slideway 12, the inclination which the slideway 13 may adopt is limited.

On the other hand, the inclination of the toothing may be greater than 45 and, due to the multiplication effect of the displacements of the vertical rack 11 acting on those of the horizontal rack 9, the resultant of the movements to which the latter is subjected may, in accordance with the previously envisaged limit cases, either be zero or double the travel of the cam. A simple supplementary mechanism may be used to progressively vary the inclination of the slideway 13, with a view to achieving a progressively decreasing reciprocating travel, for the formation of cylindrical textile packages having the corners cut off.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the described embodiment and various alterations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A reciprocating drive mechanism comprising a movable carriage, first and second toothed racks slidably mounted on said carriage at right angles to each other with the teeth thereof intermeshing, drive means for reciprocating said carriage in a direction parallel with said first rack, said first rack being aligned with the path of movement of said carriage and the angle of inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks being such that movement of the second rack imparts a movement to said first rack, an elongated slideway having a track thereon, and a member attached to said second rack and engaged with said track, alignment of said elongated slideway with the inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks reducing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack and alignment of said elongated slideway opposite to the inclination of the teeth of said first and second rack increasing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack.

2. A reciprocating drive mechanism comprising a movable carriage, first and second toothed racks slidably mounted on said carriage at right angles to each other with the teeth thereof intermeshing, said first rack being aligned with the path of movement of said carriage and the angle of inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks being such the movement of the second rack imparts a movement to said first rack, an elongated slidway having a track thereon, and a member attached to said second rack and engaged with said track, alignment of said elongated slideway with the inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks reducing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack and alignment of said elongated slideway opposite to the inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks increasing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack, and means for varying the inclination of the elongated member.

3. A mechanism according to claim 1 in which said track is defined by a groove in said elongated slideway and said member attached to said second rack includes a roller movable in said groove.

4. A mechanism according to claim 1 in which the teeth of said first and second racks are inclined at an angle of at least 45 to the longitudinal axes of said racks.

5. A mechanism according to claim 1 in which the maximum angle of inclination of said elongated slideway is 45 with respectto the first rack.

6. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said carriage is slidably carried between a pair of shafts.

7. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said carriage includes a horizontal slideway and a vertical slideway, said first rack is slidably received in said horizontal slideway and said second rack is slidably received in vertical slideway.

8. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said member attached to said second rack is mounted halfway along said second rack.

9. The combination according to claim 1, in which said drive means comprises a rotatably driven cam and a cam follower roller carried by said carriage and engaging said cam. 

1. A reciprocating drive mechanism comprising a movable carriage, first and second toothed racks slidably mounted on said carriage at right angles to each other with the teeth thereof intermeshing, drive means for reciprocating said carriage in a direction parallel with said first rack, said first rack being aligned with the path of movement of said carriage and the angle of inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks being such that movement of the second rack imparts a movement to said first rack, an elongated slideway having a track thereon, and a member attached to said second rack and engaged with said track, alignment of said elongated slideway with the inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks reducing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack and alignment of said elongated slideway opposite to the inclination of the teeth of said first and second rack increasing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack.
 2. A reciprocating drive mechanism comprising a movable carriage, first and second toothed racks slidably mounted on said carriage at right angles to each other with the teeth thereof intermeshing, said first rack being aligned with the path of movement of said carriage and the angle of inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks being such the movement of the second rack imparts a movement to said first rack, an elongated slidway having a track thereon, and a member attached to said second rack and engaged with said track, alignment of said elongated slideway with the inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks reducing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack and alignment of said elongated slideway opposite to the inclination of the teeth of said first and second racks increasing the relative travel between said carriage and said first rack, and means for varying the inclination of the elongated member.
 3. A mechanism according to claim 1 in which said track is defined by a groove in said elongated slideway and said member attached to said second rack includes a roller movable in said groove.
 4. A mechanism according to claim 1 in which the teeth of said first and second racks are inclined at an angle of at least 45* to the longitudinal axes of said racks.
 5. A mechanism according to claim 1 in which the maximum angle of inclination of said elongated slideway is 45* with respect to the first rack.
 6. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said carriage is slidably carried between a pair of shafts.
 7. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said carriage includes a horizontal slideway and a vertical slideway, said first rack is slidably received in said horizontal slideway and said second rack is slidably received in vertical slideway.
 8. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said member attached to said second rack is mounted half-way along said second rack.
 9. The combination according to claim 1, in which said drive means comprises a rotatably driven cam and a cam follower roller carried by said carriage and engaging said cam. 